


Rainbow Flash

by lmeden



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-18
Updated: 2010-12-18
Packaged: 2017-10-13 18:10:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/140203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lmeden/pseuds/lmeden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They walk like a band of heroes, stepped straight off the film screen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rainbow Flash

They walk like a band of heroes, stepped straight off the film screen, side by side and shoulder to shoulder (except for those select few, named Phillipa and James, who are too short and so walk hand in hand with their father). White light pours down over them, the hot noon sun turning the stone buildings and streets around them into shining, glimmering paths. They are in Rome.

Eames leans over Ariadne’s shoulder, whispers in her ear things he scarcely thinks about, but which cause her to giggle uncontrollably. Arthur walks on the other side of him, hands tucked into the pockets of his trousers as he gazes up at the bright stone buildings, the vaguely darker cobbles of the street, and the sparkle of the clear water bursting from a fountain up ahead. Eames stands up and snakes a hand around Ariadne’s arm, pulling her close against him.

She looks over and up, brows raised and a soft smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. He widens his eyes, all innocent, and casts a quick glance down the neckline of her dress at the shaded curves of her breasts. Lovely. No scarf today. Eames thanks the heat.

They are coming upon the fountain. Water pours, glittering and flashing rainbow colors in the sunlight, blues and violets and oranges so bright they sear his vision. Arthur is squinting at the fountain, paying little mind to anything around them. Ariadne pulls away from Eames and, distracted, he frowns after her. She crouches and scoops up James, who shrieks with laughter. Dom looks over to the young woman and smiles at her, fondness plain in his eyes. Eames turns to Arthur, who is beginning to walk around the low stone wall that surrounds and contains the fountain.

Eames pulls away from the others to follow Arthur, and he comes up on Arthur’s open side, just a hair too close, so that Arthur feels him and looks over. He glares at Eames, and opens his mouth to say something, no doubt pertaining to Eames ruining of the day with his presence and his constant gibbering about nothing at all, but Eames is too quick and he brushes against Arthur, the tough between them rare to the point of being disarming. Just enough so that Arthur steps away, right up against the edge of the fountain, and while he is still moving and off balance Eames moves up to him, too close and nearly flush, places both hands on Arthur’s shoulders, and shoves.

Arthur teeters, his mouth falls open in surprise as his knees buckle against the fountain’s wall and he falls with an enormous splash into the clear water. Eames wipes some of the water off his face and grins widely, watching for Arthur’s face, which is indeed priceless when he comes up, sputtering and shaking his head. His hair already begins to curl in the hot air.

Arthur is soaked, and Eames is halfway there from the splash. Arthur’s hair has fallen down, been washed from its careful precision, and it trails across his eyes and ears in dark strands, one in particular dripping straight onto his nose. Eames laughs, shockingly loud, and Arthur sits in the water, glaring at him from under lowered brows.

Something slams into Eames’ back and he steps forward to brace himself, but the edge of the fountain is too close and he stumbles against it, falling forward with a sweep of vertigo. Arthur is under him in the pool and Eames fears falling right on him, but Arthur moves fast, scrambling mostly out of the way before Eames hits the water, knees falling through and slamming against the stone of the fountain floor before his hands do the same.

He chokes on some water and winces, turning over and flexing his knees. Water runs through his hair and into his eyes, and he coughs hard, blinking around. Arthur is beside him, legs pinned underneath him, so close that when Eames finally blinks the water out of his eyes, he sees that Arthur is leaning against his shoulder. Laughing.

Eames throws an incredulous glance at him and then looks up. Dom is standing next to the fountain, bent over laughing, while Ariadne stays with the children a few metres back. They are cheering wildly in their high voices. Eames turns his most vicious glare on Arthur, but this only sends his peals of laughter soaring louder.

He frowns, and then smiles at Arthur momentarily before taking him down, lunging forward and pushing him under the water, diving after him. Bubbles burst from Arthur’s mouth, his eyes wide. Eames follows, moving deeper, feeling the water churn around them, and pulls Arthur up to meet him. He kisses him there, under the water, hands wrapped tight around Arthur’s biceps and he watches Arthur’s eyes go impossibly wide. Arthur’s lips soften and he opens his mouth.

Eames smiles against his mouth, blinking against the sting of the water, and pulls them up into the air. Arthur pushes him away and coughs, breathing hard for a few moments. Eames feels as if he could breathe the water itself. Then Arthur is moving, and Eames is bracing himself, his smile swept away by Arthur’s lips upon his and the sound of children’s laughter from the fountain’s edge.

He lets them both fall under the water once more, into a silent world where the sunlight splits into golden streaks and flashes rainbow in the world above, and when he opens his eyes, he glimpses Arthur’s hair float loose and shining, and a smile in his eyes.


End file.
